MICC (Model International Criminal Court) – Model International Criminal Court

What is MICC?

MICC is a simulation of trials before the ICC for high-school and university students from all over the world. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the world’s most sophisticated mechanism for the protection of Human Rights and rules of warfare. MICC is a program that aims to teach core principles of the ICC to high-school and university students. Since 2005 the Kreisau-Initiative e.V. along with its Polish partner-organisation Fundacja Krzyżowa dla Porozumienia Europejskiego (Foundation Krzyżowa for Mutual Understanding in Europe) has been organizing the Model International Criminal Court (MICC) with the goal to intensify its work in the field of Human Rights Education.

The working language of every simulation is English, and every session comprises sets of trainings, discussions, and workshops with a simulation of the ICC process – preparation, trial, and verdict. Bringing in students from all around the globe, MICC fosters intercultural dialogue and understanding among students of various national and social backgrounds. The goal of this work is to encourage students to study human rights and humanitarian law. MICC program encompasses three projects: MICC School, MICC World, and MICC University.

01.12. – 07.12.2022.

MICC School – Eskişehir, Turkey

The MICC School will gather over 50 participants from Germany, Poland, Greece and Turkey. This activity is supported by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme.

16.01. – 23.01.2023.

MICC School – Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The MICC School will gather over 50 participants from Germany, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. This activity is supported by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme.

07.02. – 13.02.2023.

MICC School – Krzyzowa, Poland

The MICC School will gather over 50 participants from Germany, Poland, Serbia, and Croatia. This activity is supported by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme.

01.04. – 07.04.2023.

MICC University – Krzyzowa, Poland

The MICC University will gather over 50 participants from all around the world. This activity is supported by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme, Reinhard Frank-Foundation and Freya von Moltke Foundation.

MICC School

MICC School is a project for high-school students and bringing together young people from different countries together.

MICC School aims to raise awareness for human rights and educate high-school students about methods of their protection. MICC School sets a strong focus on the international youth meeting character of the project to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding. MICC School is based on the rationale that motivating young people to invest their time and capacities in the protection of human rights needs more than just knowledge. It is the first-hand experience that creates that sort of motivation needed. This experience is offered through the trial simulations at the heart of MICC.

During the project the students explore their roles as prosecutors, members of the defense, judges, or members of the observing media in international teams. Subject to the simulations are final pleadings of historic cases that were heard before the international tribunals, namely the Nuremberg Tribunal, the ICTY, and the ICTR. In that context, students get to know more about the background of the conflicts, learn who was responsible, and also learn that a fair trial is a basis for sustainable justice and the protection of human rights.

When being admitted to the program, participants are placed in multinational teams.

Before coming to the project, they get to know each other via email and online forums already.

The simulation is embedded into a series of workshops and trainings. During their stay, the students participate in workshops on human rights, the resistance movement against the Nazi regime, and the historic background of the cases. In their teams, the participants receive legal and rhetorical training to learn about their roles and learn how to adequately argue and debate their roles and cases during the simulation.

MICC School attempts to introduce Human Rights Education to schools and curricula. We believe that human rights education is fundamental to political education. However, it is not widely spread throughout curricula. MICC, therefore, invites the accompanying teachers to take part in teachers’ workshops to explore possibilities of implementing Human Rights Education in schools.

Thus, not only knowledge on methods of Human Rights Education is spread, but also the sustainability of the project is secured – and many more students benefit from the outcomes of the project.

MICC University

Since 2006, MICC University has annually invited university students from all over the world. MICC University simulates a fictional case dealing with the current dilemmas of international criminal law.

The aim and idea are to promote knowledge about humanitarian law and human rights protection on a university level, especially in those countries where international law is an underrepresented or non-existent part of university curricula.

The core of the project is the simulation itself. For five days, students get the opportunity to learn, train and discuss the issues surrounding the case at hand with professors, trainers, and other professionals in the field. All this happens in an international environment.

A total of 50 students is admitted to the project. Once groups are accepted to the program, the students are divided into teams and composed of students from other countries and universities to foster intercultural dialogue among the participants. The teams are assigned individual tasks and roles (judges, defense, and prosecution) and asked to prepare and submit preliminary papers with their pleadings/judgments. Each team of three students has a total of 45 minutes to argue their case.

However, MICC University is more than a pure moot court. Prior to the simulation, students participate in trainings. They get the chance to prepare their pleadings and train their presentations with professional coaches that help them to argue their case in the simulation. The trainings include legal reasoning, the writing, and preparation of the final pleadings as well as hints and exercises on rhetoric and presentation.

During the project professionals from the field of international criminal law, human rights, and humanitarian law are invited to discuss current issues and give insight into their experiences and everyday work.

MICC University also incentivizes students without a legal background to participate. The MICC press team follows the project from a media’s point of view. Under the guidance of a professional trainer with a specialization in human rights reporting, they receive workshops and create a newspaper of their own.

Prior to the project, the organisers offer preparatory seminars in different parts of Europe to enable students who wish to participate in MICC University but do not have the academic recourses for preparation to take part in the project successfully.

Through its work, MICC University promotes the values of human rights and international justice and making a contribution toward intercultural understanding among young people.

MICC World

MICC World is a project inspired by the MICC School but with a broader impact. MICC World brings together high school students from different countries worldwide together.

The project aims to raise awareness for human rights and educate high-school students about methods of their protection. MICC World sets a strong focus on the international youth meeting character of the project to foster intercultural dialogue and understanding.

MICC World is premised on the rationale that motivating young people to invest their time and capacities in the protection of human rights requires more than just providing them with knowledge of the subject. In order to be truly motivated, students need to have first-hand in the workings of human rights protection. This kind of experience is offered through the trial simulations that are the heart of MICC.

During the project the students explore their roles as prosecutors, members of the defense, judges, or members of the observing media in multinational teams. The subject content of the simulations is final pleadings of historic cases that were heard before the international tribunals, namely the Nuremberg Tribunal, the ICTY, and the ICTR. In that context, students get to know more about the background of the conflicts, learn to assess responsibility, and also learn that a fair trial is a basis for sustainable justice and the protection of human rights.

After being admitted to the program, participants are placed in multinational teams. Before coming to the venue, they get to know each other via e-mail and online forums already.

The simulation is embedded into a series of workshops and trainings. During the project, the students participate in workshops on human rights, the resistance against totalitarian regimes, and the historic background of the cases. In their teams, the participants receive legal and rhetorical trainings to learn about their roles and learn how to adequately argue and debate their cases during the simulation.

MICC World attempts to introduce Human Rights Education to schools and curricula in the world. We believe that Human Rights Education is fundamental to political education. Regrettably though, it seldom forms part of the mainstream school curricula. MICC therefore invites the accompanying teachers to take part in teachers’ training workshops that explore the possibilities of incorporation Human Rights Education in the school curriculum. To this end, MICC does not merely spread knowledge of Human Rights Education, but multiplies its work across the represented nations through the agency of its immediate beneficiaries.